So Sci said she wasn’t going to blog this week because of Open Lab and how stressed she is.
(Sci right now, only with better hair and no pocket-protector)
But she lied.
The science, it calls us, precious.
Ah, the power of Twitter. It is indeed powerful, for it hath informed Sci of a new development in SCIENCE. Also, it made her sing. We’ll get to that. Sobolevsky, Rosconi, Gouaux “X-ray structure, symmetry and mechanism of an AMPA-subtype glutamate receptor” Nature, 2009.
Pretty, huh?

I’m sure many of you have seen some of my posts on depression pharmacotherapies, the serotonin theory, and the serotonin system. But I’m still getting a lot of questions, and a lot of misconceptions about how the various drugs work. So I’m going to provide a little more information on the types of pharmacotherapies. And this time, you’re also getting PICTURES!
Yup. We’ve been here before.

I suppose I thought for a while that if I was talking about dopamine and serotonin and GABA and things enough, people would just kind of “get” neurotransmission. And most people do. But it’s still a good thing to cover, partially because it’s kind of mind boggling to think about (well, Sci finds it mind-boggling), and partially because it helps you understand why changes in receptors, changes in transporters, or changes in release will have different effects. This comes in very handy when talking about various psychiatric and addictive drugs of which I am very fond. And so, your general post today: Neurotransmission.

And also, I get to DRAW!!! w00t.
The synapse. Do not be fooled by its commonplace appearance. Like so many things, it is not what is on the outside, but what is on the inside that counts. 🙂